More of my brother's handy work. It's so much easier to see off the deck without that silly, overgrown arborvitae in the way! As you can see, it was also in an obnoxious place at the bottom of the stairs.

Peeps! Some for eating, some for laying.

More peeps! These are Black Jersey Giants. They remind me of pandas when they're little with their coloring, but will turn all black as grown ups. They are slower to mature and will be HUGE chickens, weighing on average as much as a small turkey. These are to be layers for now.

Birthday present for Bad Pants. 🙂

Some of BP's handy work (and a Roxanne) to protect new grill from a certain nutty Aussie (coughCOPPERcough). The gate matches the decorative fanning on the deck. The carabiner clip is to keep Rox and Bear from opening the gate. It's located safely away from anywhere Bear could get his jaw stuck on it.

Hay net frustration and suspicion. Mwhahahahahaha! It took them a good 30 minutes to get over it the first time, 15 the second, and were old pros the third time.

In fact, Sugar had to show the other horses how it was done. Here, she pauses from eating to pose for her photo op.

Rox has a new playmate!

Her very own, wiggly, mini-me! That's right! We adopted a new pup from a kill shelter on Saturday. Lyra (puppy) is a Mastiff/Lab x pup, 4 mo old, very shy and under-socialized, with feet larger than Roxanne's, but very quickly coming out of her shell. She's not up for holding still for photo ops now that she realizes we won't eat her.

Beyond this, we’ve just been working on getting stuff done around here. You know, mowing our 2 acre lawn with a push mower because the riding mower that came with the house is really, actually broken. Rolling hay rounds, fixing things, etc.

That’s all that’s new here. How about with you? What’ve you been up to?

Muse has come a long, long way in 7 weeks. She is no longer wormy and thin. She’s regained all the weight she desperately needed and has started to grow again. The first two pictures were taken after a bath, groom, and clip session on Feb. 4, 2012, the morning after her “rescue”. I still cannot believe I had to involve a lawyer to receive the horse I was under contract to pay for.

The last two pics are from today, March 24, 2012. She’s dirty because she’s been out playing. Much different than being dirty from neglect.

I’m happy to report that her biting issues are resolving. She’s re-learning how to lead and learning to stand for grooming.

Muse will not be staying black. It’s been reported that she is graying as she sheds her winter coat. That’s alright! She’ll look great even if she turns purple!

It’s also reported that she loves to cut the pony as though he is a cow at her current training facility. I suppose we’ll have to go play with cows to give her a break from dressage training when she’s older. 🙂

Muse will be staying out West a while longer, we’ve decided, until she’s fully over her biting issues and her remedial education is caught up. We look forward to moving her home by this fall.

It’s bee a while since I’ve been here. Lots of happenings have kept me away. Let’s see… Illness, unpacking, more fencing, bad weather, more bad weather, great weather, gardening, colic, tornado, injury, new family member… I think that’s about right.

I never did find my battery charger for my camera, so I bought a new one. Bad Pants finally unpacked the card reader. So, this is mostly a picture post catching up on things.

Roxanne's attempt to "unzip" herself, mostly healed.

Wearing Daddy's t-shirt to keep her stitches and my floor clean- this was earlier than the first pic, as she still had her drain tubes in.

New living room set we purchased right before Rox unzipped herself.

Dude's dye-free, completely from scratch gingerbread house.

another view

Pasture space upon move in, and garden.

Pasture space, run-in and ponies March 2012. Note the front paddock and run-in were all the builder provided for 4 horses.

One of the cleared piles ready to burn on move in.

Builder's version of "burned" burn piles.

Shingle damage to the cottage from the storms.

This guy showed up on Feb 29 while Sugar was colicking. We've had no luck locating his owners.

He's a redtick coonhound, which are apparently a dime a dozen here in the South. No microchip, no response to my ads, no lost reports with AC. It was suggested by the vet that he was probably dumped, as that's not uncommon in our area.

He's about 18 months old, really well-behaved, clearly has had some training, doesn't dig or jump fences, is good with other dogs, and mostly good with the cats. He's very friendly and housebroken too.

So, we're keeping him. He's adopted Dude as his person. We've named him "Bob" or "Bobby", depending on the day. Soon he will be scheduled for a neuter, microchip and vaccs. He'll never be a stray again!

Do you use Triple Crown feeds? If so or have in the past, please tell me of your experiences. Do/did your horse(s) consume more salt while on them? Did it take more feed to keep their weight steady? If you have switched off, to what feed and why? If you don’t feed Triple Crown feeds, what is it you are currently feeding whom, how much, and do you like it? Why or why not?

All ponies boarded out here in Georgia are home! This occurred on Saturday, when Casey and Molly arrived from Molly’s previous owner’s place. The moment Casey stepped off the trailer and I took his lead, the last bit of stress and anxiety in my body left. My life is complete with him home, where I can see him every time I look out the window and can touch him often.

With the arrival of the ponies, my point about the builder’s paddock being too small for 4 horses really came home. Bad Pants and I spent several hours on Sunday and Monday expanding it, so now they have the better part of 2 acres to move about on. I am happier and they are happier.

Now that there is more space, the horses seem to be working out the last of their herd dynamic issues and have joined up into a lovely little band. Peace reigns within the herd. No drama. Just happy, munching horses!

I’ve found decent hay for a reasonable price really close to us. In addition, we met a local farmer who will disc the cleared area for us when we’re ready, and who can give us basic advise while we learn about farming in a climate still fairly new to us.

I’ve stacked a lot of hay in the cottage and started some general cleaning of it. In the next few weeks I’ll get a sheet of plywood so Bad Pants can re-side the open side where the cottage caught on fire. While we have plans to move the cottage later, I might as well make it function for my needs now, right? Right! That starts with bird proofing it asap.

Next up, we will begin to prepare for the arrival of a flock of chicks at the end of the month! The peeps will live in the garage where I can monitor them closely for the first few weFeeks. No pets, pests, or critters will be able to harm them there. And, I should be able to hear any distress peeps that come out of them in the middle of the night as the master is right above.

February will see me starting cool crop seeds indoors and really prepping the garden. If it stays mild as it has been, I will likely take the chance to start the garden earlier than our zone would suggest, but will have row covers on hand if necessary.

Later in the spring we will be adding guineas, turkeys and goats to our farm. I want guineas because they’re great at eating ticks and garden bugs while leaving the produce alone. And, well, turkeys are just awesome in general. I’m hoping we’ll be adding at least two dwarf goats (breed undetermined at this time) to our farm with hopes of producing some of our own dairy later on. I’ll have to see what comes available when we’re closer to ready.

I had expected this to be a documentary, like the War Dogs documentary one of the dog food companies did long ago in the 90s. But, to my surprise, it isn’t! Many, many horse people I know don’t want to see this. But to me, it has an epic feel. I see from the trailer that they (the writer, director, etc) are honoring the nobility of the horse and his sacrifice for humankind. Yes, horses get hurt in wars (still riding them sometimes today. If you doubt that, read up on some of the operations in Afghanistan). But people get hurt too. So do birds, bugs, and a slew of other innocent critters and people. Some horses still face danger head on today, as in this article.

Truthfully, while we’re all horse lovers, without the horse carrying our ancestors through battle safely, many of us might not be here. For that, I will go see the movie and honor those brave steeds that served our nation and nations before us so valiantly in battle. Remember, my friends, no horses were actually killed in the making of this movie. It’s just a story, nothing more. Just like those movies that upset you as a child.

In fact, if I think the kids can handle it, I’d like Bad Pants to take us for my birthday.

I’ll take a moment from my do nothing day (I’m calling it vacation) to give a couple more short updates.

For those of you already in the know, Roxanne is doing well and had her drains removed today. For those of you not in the know, she went through a window shortly after we turned in the U-haul truck. The window was already cracked and we were out buying the stuff to board it up. Long story short, she apparently was protecting the house and ended up with 64 stitches and 2 drains, along with mega antibiotics that the pharmacist thought was a misprint on the script and had to verify the dosing. (No, it was NOT. That’s what you give a 101# dog who ripped herself open stem to stern, even if it is all superficial).

My baby girl is growing like a weed! I can’t wait to meet her!

Muse is standing next to a 17.2hh draft mare there.

Chubby little thing, isn’t she?

By the beginning of October, she had already hit 15hh at less than 18 months old. Both her parents are 16hh even. Anyone want to hazard a guess as to whether or not she’ll surpass them in height?

I am currently having a “staycation” and sleeping in every day while I can. No fencing up here just yet, so no ponies at home. Trying to not let that stress me and trying really hard to just relax for a couple days.

I’m reading blogs, but not commenting much since Dude has been monopolizing my laptop to do school until his desktop is all set up, which will be sometime this weekend.

Hopefully I’ll have something wise and witty to say here in the near future. In the mean time, I’ll be around!